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Apple Partners with Hertz

Posted on June 26, 2017 by admin Posted in Hardware, Software Leave a comment

What it is: Apple partnered with Hertz while Google partnered with Avis to pursue self-driving technology.

Both Apple and google have new partners in the self-driving car market. Google already signed a partnership with Avis while Apple just signed an agreement with Hertz. What both companies plan to do with these partnerships remains a mystery, but it’s a safe bet that it involves self-driving cars.

Most likely, neither Hertz nor Avis will rent out self-driving cars. What they will likely do is test self-driving car technology to provide data for Apple and Google. Since self-driving technology relies on machine learning, the more data both companies can collect, the better the self-driving technology will get.

Keep in mind that Apple invested $1 billion dollars on China’s ride-sharing service, Didi Chuxing, which provides more rides per day in China than any other ride-sharing service in the world including Uber. Apple likely doesn’t care about ride-sharing as much as they care about collecting driving data from one of the most congested parts of the world. Since self-driving technology will eventually reach ride-sharing services, Apple’s investment in Didi Chuxing simply gives it access to more driving data than any other company.

The leap to self-driving cars will come slowly. For specific uses such as shuttles around a predictable track, self-driving technology can work today. For general use of most people driving around the streets of today, self-driving technology can only work as assisted-driving technology where the driver remains in control, but computers provide assistance when necessary. For example, if the computer determines that your car will collide with another one, it can automatically slam on the brakes.

Assisted-driving will come today while self-driving technology will come tomorrow. Both Apple and Google are simply planning for the long-term future. It won’t pay dividends now or even in the next five years, but it is the future. In the meantime, Microsoft doesn’t appear to have any self-driving technology research going on, which means Microsoft will miss out on the self-driving market when it finally arrives.

It’s not hard to see the future if you only look. What’s hard is looking for the future and then taking time now to plan for it despite not getting immediately benefits. Apple and Google are planning far head. Other companies are not. Can you guess who will survive in the future?

The Future is Machine Learning

Posted on June 12, 2017 by admin Posted in Programming Leave a comment

What it is: Apple released a new software framework to enable machine learning.

Machine learning has taken the promise of artificial intelligence and made it practical. In the early days of artificial intelligence (AI), programmers had to explicitly write code to mimic intelligence. That meant anticipating every possible outcome, which made early AI projects like expert systems ultimately unwieldy and impractical. Machine learning simplifies AI by defining rules that the computer follows to learn from real-world data.

Credit card companies have been using machine learning to identify possible fraud in credit cards by noticing unusual patterns. If you live in Dallas, Texas but the credit card company suddenly notices purchases made in Miami, Florida and then another in Portland, Oregon that same day, that’s clear something could be wrong.

Spam filters also use machine learning to identify possibly spam and get better at filtering it out. As you identify junk mail, the spam filter learns what you consider spam and gets better at detecting and blocking it ahead of time.

Now machine learning is poised to break through to common computing tasks. Google is adding machine learning to their spreadsheet and Apple is applying machine learning to vision recognition and natural language processing. Vision recognition will help identify faces and objects in a picture while natural language processing will help Siri learn from spoken commands and allow virtual keyboards to offer suggestions based on what you’ve been searching or typing recently.

By offering machine learning as a software framework, Apple has made it easy for developers to add machine learning capabilities to their own apps. Apple is also rumored to be developing a dedicated neural network processor. Combine this neural processor with their machine learning framework and you can see that in the near future (think this fall with the new iPhone), Apple products will include machine learning capabilities that will surpass rival products that still depend on the cloud (Internet) for machine learning tasks.

Apple is moving machine learning to the device itself. One useful example will be language translation. Siri can translate English to several languages including French, Italian, German and Mandarin. It’s only a matter of time before Siri will be able to translate other languages into English as well. By processing this data locally without the need for an Internet connection, an iPhone can be a portable language translation device people can use anywhere in the world.

Machine learning is the future and Apple’s goal of creating a dedicated AI chip makes perfect sense to process this data rapidly on the device itself. That means tomorrow’s iPhone will not only include a general purpose ARM processor but also a graphics processor and an AI processor. Machine learning is going to be the future of mobile computing and Apple is leading the way.

Machine learning is simply the future of computing. It’s going to help widen the gap between Apple products and rivals to such an extent that it will be like comparing a word processor to a typewriter. Both will be able to type but which one will be more efficient and easier to use?

While Amazon and Google forge ahead with virtual assistants that gobble up market share, they’re missing one key element. Both Amazon and Google’s virtual assistants only understand a handful of languages. Siri understands far more languages and that means Siri will become the standard virtual assistant around most of the world.

The future is clear. Machine learning is what will separate tomorrow’s apps from today’s apps. The difference will be as vast as night and day.

Apple’s Satellites

Posted on April 22, 2017 by admin Posted in Business, Hardware Leave a comment

What it is: Apple recently hired two satellite specialists from Google. The big question is why?

Most companies don’t own their own satellites or even care anything about them. If a company needs services that a satellite provides, they can just buy those services from a vendor who takes care of all the details about running and managing a satellite in orbit. Yet Apple recently hired two satellite experts away from Google. Why would Apple need their own satellite experts?

Satellites can be used for mapping, but it’s far cheaper to simply buy satellite imagery from another company rather than hire your own satellite experts. What’s likely he reason Apple wants satellite expertise is because Apple needs satellites for communication.

When Apple first came up with the iPhone, Steve Jobs actually wanted to have it run on its own network. Since that proved impossible at the time, Apple had to partner with a limited number of carriers such as AT&T in the United States. These carriers often created a poor user experience for these early iPhone users, but as more carriers offered the iPhone, fewer people complained about their carriers when using an iPhone.

So one possible reason Apple wants their own satellite experts is to create their own communication network. This could provide better coverage in rural areas without putting up cellular towers everywhere. A big bonus would be that Apple could control the total iPhone experience and cut the traditional wireless carriers out of the loop.

A second, more likely reason is that Apple plans to develop a self-driving car platform. That means constant communication with an Apple Car no matter where it goes on the roads. Since many roads go through rural areas where cellular phone coverage isn’t available, satellite coverage may be the only option.

Self-driving cars rely on artificial intelligence and artificial intelligence relies on collecting as much data as possible to learn from. Voice assistants like Siri rely on a cellular network to send data for collection and processing to a server. This server then sends the results back to the user’s Siri-powered device such as an iPhone or iPad. This keeps the processing of natural languages on servers, freeing up processing power and storage space on the user’s device.

Self-driving cars using machine learning will be no different. Early self-driving cars aren’t likely going to have a supercomputer on board to process driving data. Instead, self-driving cars will stay connected to a server to provide that server with driving data. Then that server will gradually get smarter about driving and provide each self-driving car on the road with improved algorithms for driving.

So Apple’s satellite interests likely lie in self-driving cars. Of course, such as network could also double as a distinct worldwide carrier network of its own, which Apple is likely eyeing at the same time, but the more immediate use for satellites will be for self-driving cars.

Self-driving cars are coming faster than people expect. By developing expertise in satellites today, Apple is preparing for the inevitable future. After all, controlling as much of your product as possible is Apple’s goal, so an Apple satellite network seems likely in the near future for both making phone calls and machine learning for self-driving cars.

Artificial Intelligence Reducing Drudgery

Posted on April 19, 2017 by admin Posted in Business, Software Leave a comment

What it is: Axon (formerly called Taser International) is using artificial intelligence to help police video recordings.

In the old days, people had jobs because jobs required manual workers. Look at an old assembly line of cars back in 1930s and then look at a similar assembly line today. The huge difference is that today’s assembly lines require fewer workers because machines have replaced many manual labor intensive tasks. Does anyone want to return back to the days when human labor was required to do everything? Probably not.

While machines have automated and reduced the need for manual labor, the next big evolutionary step will be artificial intelligence to automate and reduce the need for intellectual labor that’s repetitive and tedious. One huge example is the use of police video recordings. To be effective, police body cams need to be recording all the time lest they miss something. That means hours f recordings that must be reviewed later if something happens during that recording such as a suspect pulling out a gun or trying to escape.

With hours of video recordings, it’s not practical for someone to watch the video and flag possible clips that could be relevant to a particular case. That’s why artificial intelligence could scan through hours of video and then flag the most important scenes for a human to interpret.

Another use for artificial intelligence involves facial recognition. A police camera could identify a suspect and alert the police officer ahead of time so he or she can take appropriate action. Without facial recognition, officers risk wandering up to a dangerous suspect only to discover too late the risks.

Robots have reduced the need for physical labor and artificial intelligence will reduce the need for mental labor. In the world of computers, artificial intelligence is already infiltrating the world as virtual assistants where you can give voice commands to set appointments and be reminded of upcoming meetings. Soon artificial intelligence will be able to do research on the Internet and filter through the mass of information to provide only the most relevant information.

Think of anything dull, repetitive, and tedious and chances are good a machine could do it faster, more accurately, and consistently. Machines can replace some humans but the best use will be when machines can enhance the capabilities of humans. If your job involves tedious, repetitive work, don’t be surprised when a machine can completely replace you and eliminate your job. If your job involves some tedious, mental work, then a machine could help you.

It’s no secret that companies like Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and Apple are pursuing artificial intelligence for everything from self-driving cars to voice recognition systems. Artificial intelligence is the “secret sauce” of future computers.

Strip away artificial intelligence from most devices and you just have a dumb terminal. Add in artificial intelligence and suddenly you have common tasks that many people now take for granted, such as the ability to ask your smartphone for driving directions without once touching a button on the smartphone.

What this means in the future is that artificial intelligence will be proprietary among each company, but their capabilities will largely be the same. Just look at how similar Siri, Alexa, and Cortana are despite each one having unique features that the others lack. Each type of artificial intelligence will likely specialize in performing some tasks better than others. Right now, Alexa and Cortana may respond with more relevant information than Siri, but Siri excels in recognizing far more languages than Alexa and Cortana.

Taser International, now Axon, used to sell tasers. Now they’re branching out into artificial intelligence for police work. If a company known for police equipment can branch out into artificial intelligence, that shows you how important artificial intelligence will be for any industry outside the traditional computer industries.

Artificial intelligence is going to become commonplace just like robots are today. Visit a Third World country and notice how you have to open grocery store doors yourself. Then visit a supermarket in America and notice how a simple robot can open the door for you. Robots have taken over daily life without us knowing it and artificial intelligence will do that as well.

Now the big problem is when people abuse artificial intelligence for their own malicious purposes, but that’s simply a problem with human nature and not technology. Artificial intelligence isn’t just for computers any more. It’s for every industry that needs to be more efficient.

The Future is Graphics Processors

Posted on April 10, 2017 by admin Posted in Business, Hardware Leave a comment

What it is: Apple plans to develop its own graphics processor and reduce its dependence on third-party suppliers like Imagination Technologies.

Back in the early days of computers, Intel processors jumped in performance with each new version. The difference in speed between an 8088 processor and an 80286 processor justified buying a new PC. As processors kept growing in power and speed, people had valid reasons to keep upgrading and buying new PCs just for the new and faster processors so they could run the latest software.

Then processor speed and power became less important. Now people had far less reason to buy or upgrade their PCs because last generation’s processors worked just fine. While ordinary PCs remained relatively stagnant, gaming PCs started growing in popularity because gamers demanded faster and better graphics and that required a separate graphics processor. Most budget PCs included an integrated graphics processor but for real power and speed, a separate graphics processor was necessary.

By themselves, graphics processors aren’t that important to PCs since it’s not crucial to display an Excel spreadsheet in sharper c0lors. What makes graphics processors important is that the computing world discovered that graphics processors were perfectly designed for artificial intelligence applications. With machine learning, the faster graphics processors were far more important than faster Intel processors. Since the world is moving towards machine learning in various uses, graphics processors have moved beyond gaming and into artificial intelligence.

Now with virtual and augmented reality, graphics processors have found a new life. Both virtual and augmented reality require graphics either to create an entirely artificial world or to overlay graphics over reality. That requires graphics processing power and that further highlights the importance of a graphics processor.

So the reason Apple absolutely must develop their own graphics processor is because they need to reduce their dependence on third-party suppliers. Right now, Imagination Technologies gets close to half of their revenue from Apple, and they use those profits to advance their own research and development. Then they turn around and sell the exact same graphics processors to Apple and anyone else who wants them. So essentially Apple is funding graphics processors for their competitors in both artificial intelligence and virtual/augmented reality.

By creating their own graphics processors, Apple can customize their graphics processors while keeping this same technology away from rivals. Apple likely didn’t dump Imagination Technologies out of a whim but because they likely have they own graphics processor under development for years.

Back in the old days when Apple first created OS X, which later morphed into macOS, they had the foresight to make sure OS X could run on both Intel and PowerPC processors which were currently used in the Macintosh. For years, Apple funded this dual development of OS X just in case they needed to switch to Intel processors. When PowerPC processors proved unable to keep up with Intel processors, Apple shifted to Intel processors nearly flawlessly because they had been preparing for this possibility for years.

It’s likely Apple has also been preparing to develop its own graphics processors for years as well. Apple likely is confident their own graphics processor is superior to anything Imagination Technologies could produce, so they’re ready to release it soon.

Remember, Apple once had a contract with Google to develop Google Maps for iOS. Two years before that contract was set to expire, Apple released their own Maps app. Initially it wasn’t as good as Google Maps but now it has evolved into a decent alternative. Yet Apple prepared ahead of time to reduce dependence on Google Maps so expect Apple’s own graphics processor to appear far sooner than most people expect, perhaps even in the next iPhone this fall.

Apple needs its own graphics processor because graphics processors are the key for three areas:

Graphics power in both mobile and desktop computers
Artificial intelligence
Virtual/augmented reality

These three key markets are too important to rely on third-party components that rivals can easily buy as well. Apple’s decision to go with its own graphics processors is because graphics processors are now the key component in any computer. Right now, computers use a main processor and a graphics processor. That won’t change, but pretty soon the graphics processor will be far more important than the main processor.

That’s good news for Apple in creating their own graphics processor. That’s bad news for companies like Intel that sell ordinary processors. Apple can afford to buy and rely on Intel processors to maintain compatibility with Windows if necessary. Apple doesn’t need to rely on others for graphics processors because that’s the future and Apple needs to control its own destiny.

Didi Chuxing Opens Self-Driving Lab Near Apple

Posted on March 10, 2017 by admin Posted in Business, Programming, Software Leave a comment

What it is: Apple invested $1 billion dollars in Didi Chuxing, the Chinese version of Uber. Now Didi Chuxing is opening a self-driving laboratory near Apple.

The future is easy to predict if you just open your eyes. The antiquated world of taxis is over with the introduction of ride-sharing services. Uber may be the most popular ride-sharing service in most of the Western world but in China, Didi Chuxing is the ride-sharing leader. Ride-sharing services are far more convenient and less expensive than taxis, which essentially eliminates all possible advantages of taxis.

Trying to compete with no advantages means you’ll just slowly go bankrupt until you disappear for good. Expect taxis and taxi stands to become as rare as public pay phone booths.

Yet ride-sharing services will also change. Right now, ride-sharing services rely on human drivers, but Uber and other ride-sharing companies like Didi Chuxing are already experimenting with self-driving cars. The eventual plan is for self-driving cars to drive around town, picking up and dropping off passengers without relying on a human driver at all.

Not only will eliminating the driver cut costs, but it will increase efficiency since self-driving cars can drive the shortest and most economical route possible. Eliminate gas-powered cars and replace them with electric vehicles that can recharge through solar panels and you essentially have an independent ride-sharing service that can generate profits through automation alone.

That’s why it’s no surprise that Didi Chuxing is opening up a self-driving, artificial intelligence laboratory in Silicon Valley near Apple. Apple’s Project Titan involves cars of the future and that will definitely include self-driving cars. Apple will likely design the software controlling the self-driving car while other companies will manufacture the actual hardware, much like Apple currently does with the iPhone and the Macintosh. The design may still be under Apple’s name but Apple doesn’t build the hardware themselves.

Apple’s investment in Didi Chuxing and Didi Chuxing’s self-driving laboratory near Apple simply means Apple and Did Chuxing will share information to develop self-driving cars. Didi Chuxing already provides 14 million rides a day in China, which is four times the amount of rides that Uber provides. All that driving data can only help Apple and Didi Chuxing develop smarter self-driving cars. The more data machine learning programs can access, the smarter they can get.

So the future is easy to predict. Self-driving cars are coming and they’ll likely be used for ride-sharing services to generate profits for companies like Uber and Didi Chuxing. Apple will also be involved in self-driving technology in some way with rivals like Google and Tesla competing against each other. Most likely, the software controlling self-driving cars will be roughly equal, but that will define the future of self-driving cars.

Most likely, one company won’t dominate the self-driving software market like Microsoft Windows dominates the desktop PC market, but because the self-driving market will be so huge, everyone can grab a slice of the profitable pie. Some companies will likely specialize in niche self-driving technology like long-haul trucks while others will focus on ride-sharing services and consumer vehicles. Still others may specialize in military vehicles or space exploration vehicles.

The biggest market for self-driving cars won’t be car ownership to individuals but ride-sharing services that will be far more convenient for people in urban settings to use regularly. Self-driving cars are coming soon and ride-sharing services will be the first popular application for them.

Although nobody can predict the future accurately, it is easy to predict the general trends of the future. Taxis are obsolete. Car ownership will fade in importance much like retail shopping malls are fading in importance. Self-driving cars and ride-sharing services are going to make car ownership and parking lots obsolete over time. By collecting data from Didi Chuxing’s massive ride-sharing service, Apple stands to collect for more driving data than rivals such as Uber or Google. How Apple will use this data will likely be the next revolutionary breakthrough product coming from Apple and their much rumored Project Titan Apple Car project.